Our Mission
The HealthDesk is a collaboration between The George Washington University and Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church which seeks to introduce residents of Wards 5, 7, and 8 of Washington, D.C to health technologies to improve health literacy, self-care, and access. The HealthDesk achieves this through setting up pop-ups throughout D.C to have one-on-one interactions with community residents showing them how to access their patient portal, optimizing their phone, and recommending health-beneficial applications. In addition, the HealthDesk provides residents with curated health resources to the health conditions that are of interest to them.
Healthcare is becoming more digital and online than ever before. Patients are now able to keep track of their medications on their phones and make appointments with their primary care physicians online. However, knowledge of these digital health technologies is still low among the elderly and people from underserved communities. The goal of the HealthDesk to demonstrate a model that can be used to improve access to novel and existing digital health solutions in underserved communities and to close the gap on health inequity in Washington, D.C. while offering students an opportunity to engage within the community and gain experience with digital health.